US Confirmed Existence of Israeli H-Bomb Program in 1987

Back in 1987, according to a tightly-held report
produced for the Pentagon, (PDF) the Israelis were "developing the
kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs. That is, codes
which detail fission and fusion processes on a microscopic and macroscopic level."

Such research was taking place in Israeli facilities similar to the major US
nuclear weapons development sites. "The SOREQ and the Dimona/Beer Shiva
facilities are the equivalent of our Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Oak
Ridge National Laboratories. The SOREQ center runs the full nuclear gamut of
activities from engineering, administration and non-destructive testing to electro-optics,
pulsed power, process engineering and chemistry and nuclear research and safety.
This is the technology base required for nuclear weapons design and fabrication."

Israel’s facilities at the time were stunningly advanced. "The capability
of SOREQ to support SDIO and nuclear technologies is almost an exact parallel
of the capability currently existing at our National Laboratories." The
report, produced by the Institute for Defense Analysis for the Department of
Defense was to provide an assessment of NATO and Israel’s weapons development
initiatives of potential application to the Reagan Administration’s Strategic
Defense Initiative, or SDI more popularly known as "Star Wars."

Informal and Freedom of Information Act release of such information is rare.
Under two known gag orders – punishable by imprisonment – US security-cleared
government agency employees and contractors may not disclose that Israel has
a nuclear weapons program. GEN-16 is a "no-comment" regulation on
"classified information in the public domain." "DOE Classification
Bulletin WPN-136 on Foreign Nuclear Capabilities" forbids stating what
63.9 percent of Americans already know – that Israel has a nuclear arsenal.

The 1987 report’s confirmation of Israel’s advanced nuclear weapons program
should have immediately triggered a cutoff in all U.S. aid to Israel under the
Symington and Glenn Amendments
to the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Although 100 copies of the tightly-controlled
report were apparently published, none seem to have made their way into the
office of the President in time to cut off any of the $82 billion in aid subsequently
delivered to Israel – or publicly issue the required waivers. This is done in
the case of other countries with weapons programs operating outside the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation regime such as Pakistan.

Similarly, the US did not move to curb as required Israel’s weapons-related
work using the Soreq reactor, lab and testing facilities – provided by US taxpayers
in the late 1950’s under Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace Program under the provision
they not be used for weapons programs.

The lack American presidential of compliance – right up to the present day
– with Symington and Glenn may be why the Pentagon
fought to restrict release of the unclassified report in federal court,
citing perpetual "nondisclosure
agreements." In December the DoD insisted that only the Israeli government
had final authority over its release, before finally throwing
in the towel. (PDF)

On the eve of Israeli
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Congress and AIPAC to thwart a diplomatic
deal over NNPT signer Iran’s civilian nuclear program, the report provides interesting
reading to Americans tiring of US government corruption on this important foreign
aid law and the non-proliferation regime.